Striking It Rich

or any 20-something guy or girl, it's the dream that's constantly discussed: bunk off overseas with your mates, share laughs, beers and good times and, while you're at it, check out just what this fuck off big world of ours has to offer. Some do it via shagfests masked as package holidays; others fill a backpack and embark on the soul-searching solo mission. Gold Fields did it a far more enviable way than most and experienced moments that a busload of Contiki crew couldn't even fathom.

The five-piece indie dance outfit from Ballarat crisscrossed North America for four months, ticking all the usual boxes: Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Disneyland. But between that they also enjoyed some unique times. New fans were won over at industry conference SXSW, they played a Yahoo! On The Road double bill with long-standing heroes Empire Of The Sun and even found time for a cheeky slot on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, their songs broadcast to televisions numbering the millions. The lads were also treated by their label to Coachella tickets, three days which guitarist Vin Andanar calls “the best weekend of our lives”. It put everything into perspective for the band.

“That's the reason why we got together and started Gold Fields, is because we love going to music festivals and love just hanging out with [our] mates and letting loose for a couple of nights,” he says, “so doing that again, it kinda [motivated] us to keep doing what we're doing just because that's the reason we got together in the first place.

“Most of us had to start writing, not really a diary but [just jotting down] things we did every day,” he continues, “because we were away for so long. I didn't even realise how long we were gone for, but now I'm back it's like, 'Oh, I can't believe we were in America back in February touring'. We did have to start [keeping notes] to remind us [of our trip] and so we could tell our families what we did when we got home.”

Gold Fields still have plenty of work to do before you'd say they've 'broken in America', with Andanar admitting that at some gigs up to 95 per cent of punters hadn't heard of the band. However, they've certainly made inroads – no question – and put themselves on the precipice of the Aussie influx that's currently spreading wide and far.

“We did get really positive feedback from a lot of the shows,” Andanar informs, “people saying, 'We came out just to see you guys, we'd heard all this stuff' and all of them mentioning how much they're now looking to Australia for new music just because of the artists that have led the way, like Empire Of The Sun, or like Cut Copy and The Presets and Tame Impala especially – everyone over there is absolutely in love with Tame Impala. Australia definitely has a good name in America [right now].”

One thing Andanar and his Gold Fields cohorts did find interesting, though, was the fact they had difficulty locating bands similar to them. Which theoretically isn't such a bad thing; after all, what artists want to sound like the pack? But when you're touring a country for a four-month period, you want to make sure you're on billings that work in your favour.

“I guess that whole electronic/dance/indie scene is just crossing over there,” the guitarist reasons. “They had MGMT who were really big back in the day and I guess Foster The People is kinda in that vein, but other than that it was really hard to find like your Presets or your Cut Copy or Van She. I don't know if it's because their style of electronic music over there is a bit more commercialised maybe? I think their whole dance scene is like Skrillex and Deadmau5; we just found it really hard to find anyone to tour with. And most of the bands that we would play with were all from Australia or [the UK].”

Andanar also goes on to name check Miami Horror and Bag Raiders as other domestic groups with US crossover appeal. For the most part, though, Gold Fields were fresh meat.

“For them we were this new style of music but obviously we're not; we're nothing groundbreaking. There are other bands before us that have done exactly the same thing. Like, you'd get people who had no idea about the scene and they were comparing us to Muse and it was like, 'Wow, that's really bizarre'. [But] I guess for someone who had never listened to electronic or indie music or listened to like Foals or Friendly Fires or anything like that, I can see where they're coming from if they don't know anything about that style.”

The album Gold Fields have been touring off is Black Sun, their debut from earlier this year and an LP that the five-piece are immensely proud of, understandably given its laidback assuredness cover to cover. Not that this came easy, however, with the band starting from scratch one year ago after scrapping 12 months' worth of work.

“It took us longer than we wanted to finish the album and record it, but the reason it took us so long was because we just weren't happy with it and we're thankful now we did [take that time] and decide to redo the album ourselves because otherwise we would have just released a record that none of us would have given a fuck about,” Andanar admits candidly. “It was hard [admitting] that the last year of work that you've put into something is not a waste, but just isn't good, or we didn't think it was good. [But] we busted our arses to come up with something that we like, and the whole reason we first started the band was because we wanted to write music that we like and that our friends would like. And [now], that's what Black Sun is to us. If other people like it, then it's a bonus.”

They'll soon find that out for themselves, with the band on their first local headline tour in roughly 18 months. And even with all those opportunities Stateside considered, this is what Gold Fields have really been working towards.

“The whole time we were in America, all those shows were basically practice for us to come back here and hopefully get people excited about us over here,” he says. “We were just looking forward to coming back to Australia and playing shows back home; I can't even remember what it's like to play [here]. We're so [pumped] and pretty anxious; I hope people come.”